Thursday, September 22, 2011

There are just some things that are beyond despicable and this is one of them. Perhaps that's why it's one of the Ten Commandments (Bearing false witness comes to mind). What would make a black man pose as a member of the KKK and send threatening letters to City Hall? Was there not enough hate in the community to suit Justin Kidd? Who knows? Seeing this story, though, reminded me of a Dave Chappelle character named Clayton Bigsby, who was a 'black' white supremacist who was also blind.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) -- Sentencing will be held in January for a black man who admits posing as a member of the Ku Klux Klan in sending racist letters in 2006 to a police department and city hall in his former southwestern Illinois hometown of O'Fallon.

Justin Kidd, 28, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in East St. Louis to charges of conveying false threats in O'Fallon.

Federal prosecutors say Kidd mailed a letter to the O'Fallon Police Department in November 2006 that threatened to burn down an apartment complex if blacks were not barred from living there.

Absent this being an issue of race, these are tactics employed by none other than the most heinous and despicable men of history. Hitler was a master at this kind of stuff.

There was also a similar incident that took place shortly after the election of Barack Obama. In 2008, another black man named Dyron Hart, posed as a KKK member on Facebook and threatened other blacks.

Imagine having a great idea, starting a company, and then being given $528 Million to launch it. Then imagine declaring bankruptcy in two years. If that money was given to you by private investors who demanded accountability, you'd be arrested. But, what if that $528 Million was given to you by an entity that sets the rules, an entity that isn't accountable to anyone and doesn't really want to hold you accountable because it's not really their money? The answer is that recklessness thrives when accountability is absent. That's exactly what happened at Solyndra. The unaccountable entity is the Barack Obama administration and the money was yours.

Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said they saw questionable spending by management almost as soon as a federal agency approved a $535 million government-backed loan for the start-up.

A new factory built with public money boasted a gleaming conference room with glass walls that, with the flip of a switch, turned a smoky gray to conceal the room’s occupants. Hastily purchased state-of-the-art equipment ended up being sold for pennies on the dollar, still in its plastic wrap, employees said.

As the $344 million factory went up just down the road from the company’s leased plant in Fremont, Calif., workers watched as pallets of unsold solar panels stacked up in storage. Many wondered: Was the factory needed?

“After we got the loan guarantee, they were just spending money left and right,” said former Solyndra engineer Lindsey Eastburn. “Because we were doing well, nobody cared. Because of that infusion of money, it made people sloppy.”

Solyndra’s ability to secure federal backing also made the company eager for more assistance, interviews and records show. Company executives ramped up their Washington lobbying efforts, hiring a former Senate aide to work with the White House and the Energy Department. Within a week of getting a loan guarantee commitment from the Energy Department, Solyndra applied for another, worth $400 million. It never won final approval.

On Friday, company executives are scheduled to appear before a House committee investigating how Solyndra obtained its loan and whether the Obama White House rushed its approval for political reasons. Chief Executive Officer Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover were supposed to face a grilling about the company’s spending and collapse, but they announced Tuesday that they would assert their Fifth Amendment rights because of a criminal probe of the company by the Justice Department.

Wait, who heads the Justice Department again? Oh, yeah, Eric Holder. Makes you wonder how much of what the FBI removed from Solyndra offices was more about covering this thing up than in actually investigating what happened.

An interesting side note here is how scathing this WaPo article is. The Obama administration is not supposed to be treated like this by the mainstream media.

This side of the Operation Fast and Furious scandal is growing increasingly despicable. Again, ATF lead case agent Hope McAllister and Gun Store owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company Andre Howard can be heard on these recordings. Taken at face value, it appears that Howard, despite being the person who made these recordings, is in on the coverup. There are some disgusting things that become quite apparent in listening to this latest release of recordings. The lack of concern for Border Patrol agent Brian Terry is off the charts; Howard can be heard referring to him as 'collateral damage.'

Howard can then be heard expressing disgust for agent John Dodson for blowing the whistle. Interestingly, Howard then says Dodson won't be able to 'substantiate' his claims because the evidence is 'gone.' Could it be that Howard was making a reference to the third gun found at Terry's murder scene, the one that was the result of an FBI informant leaving it there?

After listening to the first rounds of recordings, I wondered if Howard might have been stringing the ATF along since he was the one making the recordings but it's looking less and less likely that's the case. After listening to these, I'm left with the impression that he likely made the recordings to cover his own butt. If so, it looks like that was a bad idea for him. Though these recordings make McAllister and the ATF look bad, this latest round makes Howard look much worse.

Dealer: Unfortunately a consequence occurred from a weapon shall we say that found its way into the wrong area ok and that was not anticipated. Nobody could foresee that that's collateral damage I think the term is. It happened. It's terrible. That's life ok we move on. Unfortunately, Mr. Dodson with his allegation is a pain in the a--. Now, my understanding now is it will be impossible now that he will be able to substantiate anything directly because that evidence is gone. I want you to know that. It don't exist. Not that one. You understand me?

Agent: MMhmm.

Dealer: Good. I get that.

EXCERPT 2

Dealer: My biggest problem is Dodson. You know this guy has damaged the hell out of me. I mean I walked out of here yesterday.

Agent: Mmhmm.

Dealer: I got it from the tattoo parlor, I got some damn Mexicans and white trash over there.

Agent: Yeah...

Dealer: Yelling across the parking lot: "can i buy 300 AK 47's?? Would you turn me in, over that?" This is the kind of sh-- i'm getting.

Agent: Yeah.

EXCERPT 3

Dealer: The most damning thing that you guys got to be aware of I think hypothetically is was there, you have to ask yourselves this first I'm just throwin this out there, was there a communication that hypothetically the US Attorney's office uh was entertained with the DOJ in reference to any ballistics tests or anything? Is there any way any of these idiots..

Agent: The problem is I mean we're not investigating that case.

Dealer: I know the FBI is.

Agent: And he's (Dodson) assigned to the FBI. I, I have not, I don't have any way of knowing what he has access to. And that's on the FBI. I mean that's on them. If they consider him, don't consider him an operational security issue, that's their f-----g fault. But I don't have access to that sh--, I don't know I have no idea what the FBI.